The Learning and Performance Institute can assist with developing an integrated competency based talent management system. Competency Management Systems can be implemented to integrate workforce and succession planning, training and development and performance management so that your human capital processes are aligned and ensure strategic priorities are met.

Our competency modeling process identifies the core competencies required for successful performance. Assessment tools are used to evaluate organizational capability and capacity as well as assist with employee assessment and competency gap analysis. Development action plans can be created to list developmental priorities and plan learning activities to bridge competency gaps.


Simply put, a competency is a combination of traits, skills, knowledge, and experience needed to perform a particular task or project. Competencies are the critical foundation upon which an integrated talent management system can be designed, managed, and improved. Competency identification can be applied to enhance a number of human resource processes including recruitment and selection; learning and development; career and succession planning and performance management.

In theory, a competency is developed over many years of work experience, training, and practical application until it becomes second nature.


Competencies describe employee job behaviours that account for good or bad performance at the individual, unit, and organizational levels. Put otherwise, business results are the "what" of employee performance, whereas competencies are the "how."


Because they are defined in terms of behaviours, competencies are necessarily observable and therefore measurable.


Competencies translate the strategic direction and values of the organization into expected employee behaviour.


Competencies can be technical in nature (e.g., ability to use Java programming in a particular context) or behavioural (e.g., shows initiative in such a way as to promote the particular goals of the business unit).


Competencies stem from the knowledge, skills, abilities, attitudes and personality traits of employees.


"Competence" and "competency" are not interchangeable terms. Competence has to do with the level of expertise that an individual or team has attained. A competency, as we have just explained, refers to the set of skills, knowledge, and experience that must be applied in a particular way. We call "delegation" a competency because it describes a body of knowledge about managing and prioritizing job tasks. To be competent in delegating, an individual has to do it well, and to do it well, he or she has to use abilities in leadership, coaching, listening and communication, empathy, management, and so on.


There are three types of competencies:

1. Core competencies, which have to do with what the entire organization needs to do in order to succeed. Core competencies can include Customer Commitment, Creativity and Innovation, and Quality Focus.
   
2. Role Specific competencies, which are shared by large groups of people. Accountants, for example, all have in common competencies such as Analytical Ability and Attention to Detail.
   
3. Job-specific competencies are unique to a particular job or project task. Diagnostic information gathering is an example of a job-specific competency.

Organizations determine the most important competencies that define what they are trying to achieve and where they want to be long-term. They can then determine what expertise they will need and to what degree workers must possess or achieve that expertise.



When done correctly, implementing competencies within your organization gives you the means to:

• Translate the organization's vision and goals into expected employee behaviour;
• Implement more effective and legally defensible recruitment, selection and assessment methods;
• Reduce hiring costs, absenteeism and turnover rates;
• Identify areas for employee development that are directly linked to desired outcomes and organizational objectives;
• Target training dollars in areas that will realize the most return on investment;
• Develop career plans that help employees build on existing competencies and prepare them for future opportunities and promotion;
• Set more effective and valid criteria for developing and evaluating performance;
• Identify gap between present skills sets and future requirements of employees;
• Gain a clearer picture of the competencies that exist within and across the organization for project assignments and succession planning; and
• If downsizing is required, ensure retention of the essential competencies for the success of the organization

There are variations in the content and form of a competency model, but most include a description of:

• The position's most important responsibilities and core tasks, with performance criteria for each responsibility;
• The competencies required for carrying out each responsibility (normally 8-16 competencies with definitions). Each competency may have a set of behavioral descriptors, or a set of proficiency levels (e.g., basic, intermediate, advanced) with definitions.

This model or set of competencies is specific to a job or group of jobs. Optional sections in competency models can include a matrix showing the links between competencies and responsibilities, knowledge requirements for technical jobs, or recommendations for ensuring that jobholders possess the required competencies through selection, training, and development.

With valid, fair and unbiased competency profiles, management can recruit, select, train, develop and reward employees in a manner that is consistent with the strategic vision an objectives of the organization. Therefore, any investment an organization makes in competency profile development has benefits far beyond the usefulness of the results for employee development purposes.



You may wonder why you need to develop competency models when you already have job descriptions. In contrast to a job description, which typically lists the tasks or functions and responsibilities for a particular role, a set of competencies (or competency "model") lists the knowledge, skills and abilities needed to conduct those tasks or functions.

Too often job descriptions are not worded in a manner that enables an employee's performance to be effectively measured. Competencies on the other hand are described in terms such that they can be observed, measured and rated against criteria that are standardized and required to do the job effectively.

A Competency Model can be used for many Human Resource and Talent Management purposes, such as:

• An analysis which aids the process of creating job descriptions;
• A guide for hiring employees during behaviour-based job interviews;
• A self-assessment tool for employees and managers;
• A performance management guide for supervisors/managers;
• A learning and development evaluation tool;
• A model to provide insight into succession planning activities; and
• Many other applications.

STEP 1: ANALYSIS

In early meetings with our consultants, you'll select one class of jobs, or "job family," critical to the success of your company. We then assess the jobs in that family to determine the exact competencies that enable your best employees to do their work so well. This assessment consists of the following steps:

Groundwork and Planning
We begin by identifying the immediate uses you'll have for your competency models. Next we review and customize a generic set of building-block competencies. These basic competencies form the foundation on which we ll build your unique job competency models.

Data Collection
JOB HOLDER INTERVIEWS:
Once we identify the job families to be modeled, we organize individual interviews. In these interviews consultants review job descriptions to ensure they accurately reflect the job holder's main responsibilities and tasks. If the job descriptions are inaccurate they are updated with information from the interviews and with information from job fact sheet surveys distributed to job holders.

Four to six interviews are held with current job holders. These interviews review main responsibilities and tasks of the position and identify knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSA's) required to fulfill the roles and responsibilities of the position or job family. Performance measures are also discussed as well as aspects of the job which are the most challenging or difficult. If further analysis is desired, consultants will also analyze the frequency, importance and level of difficulty of the core tasks that are performed by job holders.

FOCUS GROUPS:
In addition to job holder interviews, consultants also conduct focus groups. These focus groups add depth to the data collected in the interviews. Each group consists of three to five employees in each target job and one to three managers who supervise employees in that job. These are the topics those focus groups address:

Identify ways in which the target job is changing because of changes in:

• Your company
• The industry
• The marketplace
• Technology

Define the primary responsibilities of employees in this job. For each responsibility, identify:

• Tasks necessary for its fulfillment
• Performance outcome measures
• Knowledge, skills, abilities (KSA s) required for effectiveness

Identify situations that employees in this job face today - and will face in the future.

Review the building-block competencies (customized earlier) and rate their importance for this job.

From the list of building blocks, select a set of competencies for this job.

Review, revise, and add to the set of specific behaviors for each selected competency.

STEP 2: MODELING

The final product of the job analysis is a Job Competency Model for selected jobs. While the analysis itself is a valuable tool for understanding and improving group processes within your company, the job Competency Model is your company's key to self-regeneration, targeted learning and development and effective performance management.

To construct these models, the consultants bring together all data gathered from focus groups, surveys, and interviews. A draft job model is prepared and circulated, based on data from the focus groups and interviews. Using feedback from your employees, consultants then produce a final model containing the following specification:

• Purpose and content of the job, including tasks, responsibilities, and performance measures;
• A rating scheme that identifies the frequency and importance of particular tasks (where required);
• Formats which can be used to compare that job with other jobs;
• Competency requirements for the job in terms of the knowledge, skills and characteristics required for adequate and for superior performance;
• Career paths that produce superior candidates for the job; and
• Process by which the key competencies for that job are developed.

STEP 3: APPLICATION

CAREER PATHING AND RETENTION:
Job Competency Models provide detailed maps for existing employees to follow as they plan their careers and self-development. The model for any given job describes the exact competencies necessary to advance to that job, giving aspirants both secure information and incentive to acquire those competencies. That's the kind of open opportunity that keeps talented and ambitious people working for you.

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION:
Today you may have all your players in place, but every new day brings the possibility of change. Retirement, outside recruitment, and growth needs are some of the situations that can leave you with holes to fill-and concern about the quality of the people you'll choose to fill them.

By applying the Job Competency Model to the promotion and hiring process, your human resource department can greatly simplify their work. Models identify optimal career paths to look for, simplifying the search for candidates. Models also describe in detail the exact competencies employees will need to perform well in their jobs. Information from the Job Competency Model can be used to create behavioral-based interview guides that provide questions that target particular competencies essential to the position, and bring a standardize tool to the hiring process. Supplement this with hiring assessments based on job profile benchmarks and you have greatly increased your chances of hiring the candidate with the best fit for the position.

PERFORMANCE MANAGEMENT:
Performance assessments underlie decisions about employee rewards and promotions. Unfortunately many employees feel they have little control over the results of their work. You can counter this perception by linking employees; rewards to their competent performance in defined areas. By doing this you empower workers and encourage cooperative, team-building behavior.

Job Competency Modeling provides an excellent base for performance management. As with development and recruitment, employee assessment is based on accurate, detailed information about job performance. To appraise this performance effectively, your managers need:

• Accurate job-performance standards;
• Clear descriptions of job behaviors required to perform specific job tasks; and
• Indicators of both average and superior job competencies.

When you use competency models to provide these data, assessments yield useful, practical recommendations. Skill-based compensation systems also explicitly tie rewards to the development of key competencies. This gives employees greater control over their professional development and offers incentive for excellence to workers and managers.

LEARNING AND DEVELOPMENT:
Competency modeling provides a truly ideal framework for your learning and development program. Studies show that competency-based learning and development offers a return on investment (ROI) nearly ten times higher than the ROI of traditional training methods. The Learning and Performance Institute has developed a process entitled the Competency Acquisition Process (CAP) for managing learning and development efforts through increasing levels of competencies. The CAP consists of four steps, outlined below.

Identification of Required Competencies: Competency Models supply this information, or a simpler, less detailed system can be used for non-critical jobs.

Assessment: Employees assess their current competencies and compare them to examples of superior performance and job profile benchmarks. Performance assessments by managers are also tools used to target development areas. Employees and managers then decide which knowledge, skills, abilities and behaviors to focus on and create an individual development plan.

Development Opportunities: Employees meet with a development coach to discuss options for learning and development. Options include but are not limited to: courses and workshops, independent reading and self-study, coaching and mentoring, applied learning through projects and stretch assignments, and utilization of job aids such as process maps or procedure manuals.

Feedback: Supervisors, coaches, mentors or development consultants observe participants applying their new knowledge, skills and abilities and offer constructive feedback and reinforcement. Recognition and rewards systems can be used to recognize and support each individual s demonstration of newly acquired knowledge, skills and abilities.

When your employees enter this cyclical process of planning their own development and acquiring necessary learning and development, everyone benefits. They take responsibility for their own career paths, their own job security, and you gain an ever more skilled and competent workforce. Improved performance, bonuses, increased productivity, and career advancement spell success for everyone.

STEP 4: HANDING YOU THE TOOLS

The Learning and Performance Institute wants your company to benefit to the fullest from your competency-based system. That s why our work isn't finished until our consultants show you how to replicate the process of identifying competencies, modeling them, and applying them thoroughly. With these valuable tools, you can spread the competency focus throughout your organization.

Consultants will show you all the steps necessary to assess completely any job or job family, and to produce thorough Job Competency Models. Consultants will also show you alternative methods to achieve serviceable results in less time or at less cost. For example: You can build workable-thorough less precise-Job Competency Models quickly and at low cost through single interviews with superior employees in targeted jobs and a panel discussion with these employees and their managers. Small-scale models constructed this way provide many of the benefits of the full-scale models but require a smaller time and resource investment.

In addition to showing you how to produce standard models of existing jobs, consultants teach you the principles of competency-based management. Using these principles, you can devise strategies for dealing with such difficult personnel situations as these.

Re-engineering: Build competency models for jobs that don't yet exist. This lets you hire the people you need right from the start.

Down-sizing: Use competency models to reassign tasks to the employees best suited to do them well.

Mergers: Construct new models rapidly to help your newly combined workforces work efficiently together.

The focus of our work is providing you with the tools you need to face the future confidently. The Learning and Performance Institute wants your human resources system to work effectively for you, constantly renewing and improving your organization.